End of summer department move will benefit two county offices

Posted on 05/23/2017

This August, a simple switch of office space for two county departments will result in improvements for both. The county’s GIS department, which also includes office space for the county’s web development team, will move from 1400 17th Ave. across the street to 1401 N. 17th Ave. where the elections department currently resides; elections staff, in turn, will move to the previous GIS offices.

“The move makes a lot of sense,” said Commissioner Chair Julie Cozad. “Elections will gain square footage, which the Clerk and Recorder says is needed, and both GIS and Elections will be closer to their coworkers in Information Technology and Motor Vehicles respectively.”

The Elections Office will gain 549 square feet of space in the move, which not only accommodates the office’s current needs but also allows for future growth and will include a new work area for staff.

In addition to the move across the street, the Elections Office will also have designated space in the Chase Building at 822 7th St. where the election “event” will be conducted, specifically the processing of ballots. The benefit of this space is it will allow the Elections staff to leave equipment set up in a secure room year-round rather than the current configuration in which the set up for the election “event” is done in a county conference room and must be dismantled following each election.

“This perfectly illustrates the reason the county purchased the Chase Building,” said Director of Finance Don Warden. “The county continually looks at the future growth needs of our county offices, and the purchase of the existing Chase Building saved taxpayers the millions of dollars it would have cost to build new buildings to accommodate growth. And with residential and job growth continuing throughout the county, the Chase Building will continue to provide the room for county services to grow as needed.”

While staff moves will occur in August, the elections equipment and set up will not move until after this year’s election in November.